Cal State L.A. pays homage to Michael D. Coe

Los Angeles, CA – Featuring 15 distinguished scholars who are leaders in the field of Mesoamerica, Cal State L.A.’s Art History Society presents “Jaguars, Eagles and Feathered Serpents: Mesoamerica Re-explored,” on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13.

The 2013 Mesoamerican Symposium, which pays homage to the life and work of renowned archaeologist Michael D. Coe, will take place in the Golden Eagle Ballroom on the CSULA campus. Coe will be presented with the Tlamatini Award for lifetime achievement during the Saturday program. Tlamatini is a Nahua word that means wise man or teacher.

One of the most prestigious Mayanists of all time, Coe is a Charles J. McCurdy Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University. His research interests focus on the pre-Spanish civilizations of Mesoamerica, especially the Olmec and Maya; and on the Khmer civilization of Cambodia. He has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1986. Coe’s books include The Maya, Mexico, The True History of Chocolate, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and Angkor and the Khmer Civilization.

* “The Millenialist Utopia of the Indian Jerusalem: Indian-Christian Art and Transculturation in 16th Century Mexico,”

* “The Bonampak Murals: A Performance at the Maya Court,” and more.

Among the renowned cast of scholars at the symposium are Robert H. Cobean, director of the Tula Archaeological Project and a member of Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de AntropologÃ­a e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History), and Mary E. Miller, dean of Yale College at Yale University and the highly-esteemed author of The Art of Mesoamerica, and An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (co-authored by Dr. Karl Taube). In addition, Oswaldo Chinchilla of Yale; Jeff K. Kowalski of Northern Illinois University; Stephen D. Houston of Brown University; Guilhiem Olivier of UNAM; Juan Miro of University of Texas, Austin, and many others will be participating.

Admission is $15, and $10 for students. This is cosponsored by the Department of Art and the College of Arts and Letters at Cal State L.A. To register, please email AHSMeso2013@gmail.com.

The University is located at the Eastern Avenue exit, San Bernardino Freeway, at the interchange of the 10 and 710 Freeways. Public (permit dispensers) parking is available on the top level of Parking Structure C. For campus maps and directions: /univ/maps/cslamap.php.

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 225,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu